Unified Account

[wmontwe]

🎯 The objective

Currently, the app supports a single configurable Unified Folder. While this is typically used as a Unified Inbox, it can include messages from any folder that the user has selected to "integrate" into this unified view.

To conclude the drawer ui changes we need to add support for:

• A unified account view in the drawer.
• Provide dedicated unified folders for Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam, and Trash.
• Ensure that selecting a unified folder displays messages from that folder type across all accounts.
• Distinguish between the existing configurable "Unified Folder" (which aggregates multiple folders) and the new type-specific unified special folders.

🦮 Rules of the Road

🟢 In Scope

• Support for global special folders in the unified account view.
• Infrastructure and search capabilities to support cross-account folder-type queries.
• UI and data layer updates to expose and display unified folders in the drawer.
• Consistency in behavior between the Unified Inbox and other unified special folders.

🔴 Out of Scope

• Support for custom unified folders (user-defined across accounts).
• Unified "Archive" folder (unless specifically requested later).
• Changes to the message list UI itself (beyond display of query results).
• Performance optimizations for extremely large sets of accounts (beyond current architecture).

🚧 Technical and/or Business Requirements

• Unified folders must behave exactly like the Unified Inbox in terms of selection and data flow.
• Provide a "true" unified account experience that users expect from a modern email client.
• Unified views must accurately reflect the combined state (unread/starred counts) of their constituent folders.
• Users should understand the difference between the integrated "Unified Folder" and type-specific unified views.

[bdstr]

Hi, I understand that a unified Archive folder is out of scope for this feature. Could you explain why?

Personally, a unified Archive would make my workflow much smoother. Each time I finish an email thread, I archive it, but I often need to revisit archived threads. Right now I have to search through all my accounts separately, which is neither ideal nor efficient.

I was excited when I saw the feature being planned, but discovering that the Archive will be omitted has left me disappointed.